OAP Projects in the california current ecosystem

David J. Wrathall, George Waldbusser, and David Kling, Oregon State University

Ocean acidification (OA) is already harming shellfish species in the Pacific Northwest, a global hotspot of OA. While OA poses a threat to regional communities, economies, and cultures that rely on shellfish, identified gaps remain in adaptive capacity and vulnerability of several stakeholders. This project will address these gaps by extending long-standing collaborative OA vulnerability research with shellfish growers to include other shellfish users (e.g. port towns, Native American tribes and shellfish sector employees). The project includes five objectives: 1) Map variations in shellfisheries’ exposure to OA and identify those that are most sensitive, 2) quantify production losses from OA and costs of investment in adaptation 3) Identify potential pathways for adaptation, 4) identify key technological, institutional, legislative, financial and cultural barriers to OA adaptation, 5) evaluate the cost of potential adaptation strategies, and develop behavioral models to predict the likelihood of users adopting specific adaptation strategies. The research is designed to identify key vulnerabilities, determine the cost of OA to Pacific Northwest shellfish stakeholders, and to model adaptation pathways for maximizing resilience to OA. The adaptation framework developed here will be replicable in other shellfisheries yet to experience OA impacts.

Jan Newton, University of Washington

The Olympic Coast, located in the Pacific Northwest U.S., stands as a region already experiencing effects of ocean acidification (OA). This poses risks to marine resources important to the public, especially local Native American tribes who are rooted in this place and depend on marine treaty-protected resources. This project brings together original social science research, synthesis of existing chemical and biological data from open ocean to intertidal areas, and model projections, to assess current and projected Olympic Coast vulnerabilities associated with OA. This critical research aims to increase the tribes’ ability to prepare for and respond to OA through respective community-driven strategies. By constructing a comprehensive, place-based approach to assess OA vulnerability, decision-makers in the Pacific Northwest will be better able to anticipate, evaluate and manage societal risks and impacts of OA. This collaborative project is developed in partnership with tribal co-investigators and regional resource managers from start to finish and is rooted in a focus on local priorities for social, cultural, and ecological health and adaptive capacity.

Humans and the ocean are inextricably interconnected, with all humans relying on ocean ecosystem outputs such as oxygen, water and food. Currently, ocean ecosystems are threatened by multiple global change stressors, including ocean acidification (OA). The development of OA monitoring tools and education curriculum will be instrumental in providing the public with a better understanding of the process of OA and impacts of a more acidic environment to valuable ocean ecosystems.

NOAA’s West Coast Region (WCR) sanctuaries will work with external partner Dr. David Long, of Flathead Valley Community College, to pilot a field-based pH-measuring instrument called ”pHyter” with WCR sanctuaries’ OA education and outreach programs, including citizen science, teacher workshops and student field investigations. Dr. Long and his students recently developed pHyter: a hand-held chemical indicator-based spectrophotometric pH- measuring device. OAP funds will support the expansion of pHyter instrument capabilities to permit iPhone and android apps to interface and upload to the international GLOBE Program GIS database, increasing accessibility of pH data.

Joshua Brown

Ocean acidification science has evolved rapidly over the past decade. This research landscape has shifted in two important directions. First, the scale of investigation, once limited to global or open ocean scale observations, has broadened with focus on resolving local expression and impacts of OA. Second, research that was almost exclusively restricted to understanding and forecasting exposure and impacts is now complimented by studies on the local actions and solutions for OA mitigation and adaptation. These shifts have created new opportunities for a communications arena where the need for local, solutions-based messages have been identified as key barriers to engagement. At the same time, the lack of effective communications tools that make new research knowledge readily accessible to a range of audience groups has also been recognized as a priority area of need.

To address these gaps, we propose to develop a series of audience-specific videos that focuses on local actions and solutions that are underway in Oregon to address OA. By telling the stories of 1) a citizen science OA monitoring network, 2) efforts to breed a better (more OA-resistant) oyster, 3) shellfish hatcheries adapting to change, and 4) new benefits from seagrass beds in mitigating OA, we aim to broaden the OA narrative to include messages of positive actions. We will produce videos that are tailored for 3 groups of audiences (estimated numbers reached): high school students that will receive a new OA curriculum module (~200), aquarium visitors on the Oregon Coast (up to 150,000/yr), and engaged stakeholders visiting a new Oregon ocean story map site (~1000) and/or attend public forums on coastal issues (~400). The project team comprises a partnership between Oregon Sea Grant, and representatives from academic research (Oregon State University) and environmental NGO’s (Surfrider Foundation).

Jan Newton, University of Washington

Working across four IOOS Regional Associations in partnership with the shellfish industry and other groups affected by ocean acidification (OA), our proposal is divided into four tasks that continue the foundational aspects established to date and expand both technical capacity and the development of new technology with respect to OA observing needs for shellfish growers and other related impacted and potentially vulnerable U.S. industries, governments (tribal, state, local) and other stakeholders. Our proposed work includes development of observing technology, expert oversight intelligence, data dissemination, and outreach and will be executed by a team that includes a sensor technology industry and academic and government scientists. We will: 1) Develop new lower cost and higher accuracy sensor technology for OA monitoring and expand them to new sites; 2) Utilize regional partnerships of users and local experts to implement and provide Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) tests of the new OA sensors; 3) Establish data handling and dissemination mechanisms that provide both user-friendly and standards-based web service access that are exportable from the Pacific Coast module to the entirety of U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS); and 4) Provide education and outreach services to stakeholders concerned about and potentially impacted by OA.

James McWilliams, UCLA/IGPP

The California Current System (CCS) is one of the most biologically productive regions of the world ocean, but seasonal upwelling of low oxygen and low-pH waters makes it particularly vulnerable to even small additional reductions in O2 and/or pH, which have both been observed in recent decades. Three prominent coastal phenomena have been implicated in precisely these changes: 1) large scale acidification and deoxygenation of the ocean associated with climate warming, 2) natural climate variability, and 3) anthropogenic pollution of coastal waters, especially from nutrient discharge and deposition. The relative importance of these drivers has not been systematically evaluated, and yet is critical information in any cost-effective strategy to manage coastal resources at local scales. Disentangling the magnitude and interaction of these different ecosystem stresses requites an integrated systems modeling approach that is carefully validated against available datasets.

The goals of this project are three-fold: 1) develop an ocean hypoxia and acidifcation (OHA) model of the CCS (Baja California to British Columbia), comprising the circulation, biogeochemical cycles, and lower-trophic ecosystem of the CCS, with regional downscaling in the Southern California Bight, Central Coast, and the Oregon Coast; 2) use the model to understand the relative contributions of natural climate variability, anthropogenically induced climate change, and anthropogenic inputs on the status and trends of OHA in the CCS; and 3) transmit these findings to coastal zone mangers and help them explore the implications for marine resource management and pollution control.

Students from University of Washington's (UW) College of Computer Science & Engineering (CSE), are looking for local opportunities to apply their newly-acquired skills and gain experience in preparation for a competitive job market. We propose to leverage this local (and economical) tech resource by hiring student interns interested in working with the PMEL Carbon Program's large data collections and developing novel interactive tools for data visualization and communication that would serve the broader community of scientists, resource managers, and other stakeholders. We also propose to develop new 2D and/or 3D visualizations of observational data, model results, model-data comparisons, and conceptual diagrams related to OAP-funded work in the California Current Large Marine Ecosystem to improve the coastal OA community's ability to communicate with stakeholders about observed and forecasted conditions and potential impacts. This work will build on an existing partnership with UW's Center for Environmental Visualization (CEV), which built the PMEL Carbon Program website in 2010 and recently updated our antiquated Google Earth data portal (www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/map/index). The proposed work will contribute to improving the public's access to and ability to interact with data generated by the NOAA Ocean Acidification Observing Network (NOA-ON) with the goal of increasing awareness and understanding of ocean acidification (OA).

Burke Hales, Oregon State University

The California Current is a dynamic eastern boundary system that spans the Northeast Pacific from Canada to Baja California, Mexico. Upwelling of cold, nutrient rich water drives multi trophic level productivity throughout much of the domain, but also results in naturally acidic on-shelf waters on regional scales. In addition, anthropogenic CO2 on basin to global scales, and local inputs by eutrophication, fresh water inputs, and local respiration or carbon assimilation result in multiscale and context-specific perturbations to the carbonate system. Thus, to understand, manage, or mitigate the effect of ocean acidification on ocean ecosystems, we need to quantify a suite of carbonate system parameters along the Pacific Coast in a mechanistic, spatially explicit, and temporally dynamic fashion.

We propose to embed an improved semi-analytical carbonate-chemistry prediction model within a dynamic classification of pelagic seascapes derived from satellite remotely sensed variables, including, but not limited to, phytoplankton standing stock (chl-a), SST, and wind stress. We will produce synoptic time series and nowcasts of surface TCO2, TALK, pH and Ω that will facilitate regional comparisons of interannual trends in OA parameters. We will include metrics of model and spatiotemporal uncertainty to better inform management decisions. These maps will be validated with the wealth of multi-parameter OA data generated from recent NOAA-supported field-observational efforts, from coastal moorings, West-coast OA cruises, and shore-based Burke-o-Lators. Statistical analyses will quantify spatially explicit trends across OA parameters, and local deviations from seascape-based predictions will disentangle basin-scale oceanic vs. local drivers of the carbonate system. Maps will be served in near real time on IOOS data portals. Time series and maps will inform marine ecosystem management and provide metrics of ocean health for National Marine Sanctuary condition reports.

The PMEL Carbon Group has been augmenting and expanding high-frequency observations on moorings to provide valuable information for better understanding natural variability in inorganic carbon chemistry over daily to inter-annual cycles. The current NOAA Ocean Acidification Observing Network (NOA-ON) consists of 21 moorings in coral, coastal, and open ocean environments. At present, the OA mooring network includes a standardized suite of surface sensors measuring for air and seawater partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2), pH, temperature (T), salinity (S), dissolved oxygen (DO), fluorescence, and turbidity at all sites. Although OA is primarily driven by uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere, many coastal and estuarine processes that affect water chemistry and the interpretation of coastal OA are manifested in subsurface waters. Furthermore, many of the most sensitive organisms (e.g. corals, shellfish) are benthic and respond to subsurface water chemistry.

The Moored Autonomous pCO2 (MAPCO2) systems currently used on the 21 OA moorings are uniquely adapted for surface only measurements. PMEL has demonstrated these MAPCO2 systems are compatible with and comparable to ship-based underway pCO2 systems and discrete validation measurements used in the NOA-ON. However, similar standardized methods and technologies have not been evaluated for subsurface observations on the existing mooring network. Our project evaluates the best carbon system technologies to deploy in the subsurface, demonstrate the utility of these enhanced observations on the moorings, and make recommendations on how advanced technologies can be incorporated into the NOA-ON.

Richard Feely, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory

This project contributes to the NOAA objective to provide accurate and reliable data from sustained and integrated earth observing systems through research, development, deployment, and operation of systems to collect detailed carbonate chemistry measurements as a part of a hydrographic research cruises along the west coast. The NOAA Ocean Acidification Monitoring Program along North American coastlines (Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf, and Alaskan) and in the global open ocean will focus on mapping and monitoring the distribution of key indicators of ocean acidification including carbon dioxide, pH, and carbonate mineral saturation states. The overarching goal of the program is to determine the trends in ocean acidification (OA) and to provide concrete information that can be used to address acidification issues. The detailed hydrographic research cruises that are planned to be conducted every four years along our coasts are essential for providing high-quality intercalibration data across the full suite of OA observing assets in coastal waters, including well-proven technologies such as the MAPCO2 moored CO2 system and underway pCO2 systems on ships-of-opportunity as well as developing technologies such as wave gliders and sensors for additional carbon parameters.

The hydrographic cruise measurements facilitate the overall monitoring effort's ability to address the near-term performance measure of quantifying aragonite saturation state in the areas studied to within 0.2. In addition, the recurring coast-wide cruises allow us a critical opportunity to assess OA conditions along the West Coast in a synoptic fashion. Cruise-based observations have provided critical information for model validation that is facilitating the improvement of next-generation physical-biogeochemical models projecting OA conditions into the past and the future.

Simone Alin, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory

PMEL's surface observational network, consisting of the complementary moorings and underway observations, is designed to quantify the temporal and spatial scales of variability of carbon species, pH, and aragonite saturation in surface waters. To assess spatial dynamics in OA and evaluate the synergistic effects of coastal processes along the coasts and in the open ocean, we will leverage our Ship of Opportunity Program (SOOP) infrastructure along the U.S. west coast. Underway observations have been enhanced by the collection and analysis of discrete DIC and TA samples beginning in FY 2010.

The primary objectives of our underway OA FY 2015–2017 sustained investment work plan are to maintain existing underway observations on NOAA Ships Oscar Dyson and Bell Shimada with autonomous pCO2, pH, and ancillary sensors that cover the continental shelf regions of Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and California. We plan to work with Dr. Rik Wanninkhof''s group at AOML to ensure that the underway OA system on NOAA Ship Ronald Brown is working well for the FY2016 West Coast Ocean Acidification cruise. In addition to making ongoing observations from existing OAP-funded CO2/pH SOOP platforms, during this funding period we are placing a major emphasis on finalizing QC on backlogged underway pH and DO data, distributing the final data to CDIAC and NODC data archives, and data synthesis and publication efforts. These efforts are being undertaken in conjunction with other members of the PMEL Carbon Group, the PMEL Science Data Integration Group, our AOML sister group, and Dr. Todd Martz at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Finally, under the OAP SI FY15-17 work plan, we will continue to maintain the pH and O2 sensors that are presently on the container ship Cap Blanche and contribute to the trans-Pacific decadal time-series.

Adrienne Sutton, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory

Since ocean acidification (OA) emerged as an important scientific issue, the PMEL Carbon Group has been augmenting and expanding our observational capacity by adding pH and other biogeochemical measurements to a variety of observing platforms. In particular, high-frequency observations on moorings provide valuable information for better understanding natural variability in inorganic carbon chemistry over daily, seasonal, and interannual cycles. The current NOAA OA mooring network consists of 21 moorings in coral, coastal, and open ocean environments (Figure 1). At present, the OA mooring network includes surface measurements of CO2 (seawater and atmospheric marine boundary layer), pH, temperature (T), salinity (S), dissolved oxygen (DO), fluorescence, and turbidity at all sites. The main objective of this network is to quantify temporal variability in the ocean carbon system. This includes describing how annual, seasonal, and event-scale variability impacts air-sea CO2 flux and ocean acidification; providing the carbon chemistry baseline that informs biological observations and research; and contributing to the validation of ocean biogeochemical models and coastal forecasts. Sustained investments in the OA mooring network maintain long-term time series of OA variability and change, allow the PMEL Carbon Group and partners to provide analyses and comparisons of patterns and trends across the network, and make these mooring data available to the public and the broader scientific community.

The main hypothesis that motivates this mooring network is that the range of natural variability as well as the rates and magnitude of acidification will vary across time, space, and depth as a consequence of local and regional geochemical, hydrological, and biological mechanisms. Similar to the iconic Mauna Loa atmospheric CO2 time series, the “ocean observatories” in the NOAA OA/CO2 mooring network gain importance with time as they, in this case, begin to distinguish ocean carbon uptake and ocean acidification from the large natural temporal variability in the marine environment. The main objective of the NOAA OA/CO2 mooring network is to quantify temporal variability in the ocean carbon system. This includes describing how annual, seasonal, and event-scale variability impacts CO2 flux and OA; providing the carbon chemistry baseline that informs biological observations and research; and contributing to the validation of ocean biogeochemical models and coastal forecasts.

Rick Goetz, NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center

We will examine the effects of OA conditions (elevated pCO2) on the adaptive response of a potentially vulnerable native marine mollusc species with ecological, economic and social importance in the Pacific Northwest: geoduck clams (Panopea generosa). Geoduck clam larvae will be exposed to normal and elevated pCO2 and surviving larvae will be assessed using genomic sequencing to determine changes in allele frequencies at single nucleotide polymorphisms throughout the genome, and changes in the frequency of methylation states (epialleles) throughout the epigenome. Existing ecosystem models of OA consider a species' response to increased pCO2 as a fixed attribute; however, interpretations of the effects of OA at the population level may shift substantially if species adapt to the new environment. Furthermore, we will gain a better understanding of how specific genetic and epigenetic variations influence phenotype and the ability of an organism to respond, giving us new insights into fundamental aspects of species adaptation to environmental change.

Paul McElhany, NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center

Assessing a species’ risk to ocean acidification (OA) will depend on their duration of exposure to low pH/low saturation state conditions and their sensitivity to low pH conditions. Lab species exposure experiments attempt to measure species sensitivity to low pH. This modeling project estimates species exposure. In FY13, we started using an existing circulation/water quality of model of the Salish Sea and Washington/B.C. Coasts developed by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to understand carbonate chemistry exposure of zooplankton species. We are using empirical relationships between carbonate chemistry, oxygen, temperature and salinity to add carbonate chemistry to the circulation model. We then use an individually-based model to simulate the movement of various zooplankton species in this environment. In FY15-FY17, we will continue development and publication of results from this model, including exploration of current and future CO2 scenarios. Results from the model will inform the Dungeness crab exposure experiments planned for FY16, as well as general zooplankton vulnerability to OA.

Paul McElhaney, NOAA Northwest Fisheries Science Center

Ecosystem models are used to estimate the potential direct and indirect effects of ocean acidification (OA) on marine resources. The population abundance and distribution of species that are sensitive to seawater carbonate chemistry can experience the direct effects of OA. Even species not sensitive to carbonate chemistry can have indirectly changes in abundance and distribution as a result of changes in their prey, predators, competitors or critical habitat forming organisms that are sensitive. Ecosystem models use information on food webs and other relationships to estimate these ripple effects of OA on important ecosystem services like fisheries.

Species exposure experiments that measure the response of organisms reared in seawater with manipulated carbonate chemistry are an important way to learn about the potential effects of ocean acidification (OA). Experimental systems that closely mimic the natural environment (e.g. with multiple stressors) can lead to studies with greater ecological relevance. Using a combination of NWFSC and OAP funds, the NWFSC built a facility for conducting species exposure experiments at the Montlake Lab, and has started a new facility at the Mukilteo Field station. The facilities include both rearing aquaria and a lab for carbon chemistry analysis (DIC, alkalinity, spectrophotometric pH). The NWFSC experimental systems are considered “shared-use” facilities, in that the systems are available for NWFSC research teams and outside collaborators as capacity allows. In the past, we have worked on collaborative projects with PMEL, University of Washington, Oregon State University, Suquamish Tribe, Evergreen State University, Cal Poly and Western Washington University. These collaborators often provide external funding for experiments, greatly increasing the research that can be conducted.

Burke Hales, Oregon State University

The goal of this component of the project is to continue the mooring and ship-based monitoring of the Ocean Acidification-impacted carbonate chemistry of US Pacific coastal waters. This objective will be accomplished by: 1) continued operation of the Oregon Ocean Acidification Mooring Program, including deployment and maintenance of the surface moorings at the established Ocean Acidification (OA) node at NH10 with surface MAPCO2 systems, nearbottom moorings with SAMI-CO2 and SAMI-pH systems at the NH10 site and the shelfbreak in the early stages of the project, followed by a relocation (following validation exercises, see #3) of these assets to a more biologically productive site to the south; 2) measurement support of the West Coast Ocean Acidification Cruise in 2016; and 3) a validation program for moored measurements off the Oregon Coast. The final component will include a parallel deployment of the NOAA-OAP moored assets at NH-10 for 6-12 months following establishment of the OOI node there to ensure consistency between the OAP and OOI platforms, as well as continued opportunistic sample collection for archiving and analyses in Hales; lab at OSU.

Jan Newton, NANOOS

Working with the Carbon Group at NOAA’s Pacific Marine Environmental Lab, we propose to continue the now 4-year time series of real-time, high-frequency measurements of critical core OA parameters on the northern Washington shelf, including regular collection of validation samples. Specifically APL-UW will continue to maintain a heavily-instrumented surface mooring (Cha’ba) providing core OA and support parameters 13 miles WNW of La Push, WA, within the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, just shoreward and south of the Juan de Fuca Eddy---a known harmful algae bloom (HAB) source (Trainer et al., 2009; Hickey et al., 2013). Cha’ba currently houses a MAPCO2 system and many auxiliary sensors including two pH sensors, several CTDs, two oxygen sensors, an ADCP, and a fluorometer/turbidity sensor. Because of budget limitations, lack of ship time, and possessing only one surface mooring, we are only able to deploy the Cha’ba system for 6-8 mo/yr, typically from March-April through September-October. A LOI is attached to this workplan that would allow for continuous 12 mo/yr deployments in order to bring this to the full requirements of NOAA OAP. Cha’ba’s location, in an upwelling zone and near the source waters to Puget Sound via the Strait of Juan de Fuca, offers key insights. While Cha'ba records surface air and seawater conditions with some depth resolution, NANOOS also supports a subsurface profiling mooring 400m away from Cha''ba, measuring full water-column properties below 20m, soon to be instrumented (US IOOS funding) with a real-time HAB detection system, pH sensor and profiling CTD offering broader context and insights on biological responses. Synergies between OA and HAB toxicity have been suggested (Sun et al., 2011). Continuation of the MAPCO2 effort on Cha''ba with these ancillary data will facilitate analysis to further develop our understanding of shelf processes important to OA variability, prediction, and biological responses.

UWE Send, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

This project will deploy two interdisciplinary moorings (CCE1 and CCE2) in the southern California Current System, a key coastal upwelling ecosystem along the west coast of North America. The study region forms the dominant spawning habitat for most of the biomass of small pelagic fishes in the entire California Current System, is important for wild harvest of diverse marine invertebrates and fishes, plays a significant role in the ocean carbon budget for the west coast, and is in close proximity to the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. The offshore CCE1 mooring is located in the core flow of the California Current itself, and represents a key source of horizontal transport of nutrients, dissolved gases, and organisms from higher latitudes. It also represents the offshore atmosphere-ocean gas exchange that occurs over a large area and influences the carbon budget of this Eastern Boundary Current. The CCE2 mooring is located near Pt. Conception, one of the major upwelling centers off the west coast. This is a site of strong, episodic upwelling events that lead to marked increases in pCO2, declines in pH and dissolved oxygen, and intrusion of waters unfavorable to precipitation of calcium carbonate by some shell-bearing marine organisms. The proposed work will regularly deploy and service taut line, bottom-anchored moorings at the two mooring sites, with sensors designed to measure all core carbonate system variables specified by the PMEL OA Monitoring Network. The data will be validated with shipboard measurements and rigorous QC procedures, and made freely available via Iridium satellite telemetry. Complementary measurements made by partners in this region include Spray glider-based assessments of calcium carbonate saturation state, CalCOFI shipboard hydrographic and plankton food web measurements, process studies conducted by the CCE-LTER (Long Term Ecological Research) site, and a new experimental Ocean Acidification facility.

About Our Organization

The NOAA Ocean Acidification Program coordinates research, monitoring, and other activities to improve our understanding of how (and how fast) the chemistry of the ocean is changing, how variable that change is by region, and what impacts these changes are having on marine life, people, and the local, regional, and national economies.